4A - The Michigan Daily -- Monday, September 18, 2000
c e 9 irttn tti1
Men's Health says boys cry at 'U'
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
daily.letters@umich.edu
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan
MIKE SPAHN
Editor in Chief
EMILY ACHENBAUM
Editorial Page Editor
M en are about as welcome at the Uni-
versity as first-year students with
unchecked tolerances are at private house
parties, according to the September issue of
Men's Health. The magazine ranked the
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of
the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
University as one of
the "Top-Ten Anti-
Male Schools in
America." Oh
pleeeease, sniffed
some campus women.
I better not agree with
that in the presence of
any females, wary
guys might have
thought.
I imagine there are
unfortunate conse-
quences of being a
college-aged male
anywhere: The twin
terrors of going bald
and sprouting back
hair by graduation.
Sub-par phone service is dangerous
Emily
Achenbaum
the Rough
The sports teams need little introduction.
And if more than 100,000 people hooting on
22 men trying to kill each other every Satur-
day isn't devotion to male culture I don't
know what is.
So what could it be?
Maybe they caught wind that those wimpy
guys in Michigamua, previously the society
rah-rah-rah men-rule-the-world wet dreams
are made of, decided to go co-ed a few years
back. Is nothing sacred? Or perhaps it is
because the fraternity system receives a lot
of flack - not that women can be blamed if
some frat boys haven't figured out bleach is
for dingy gym socks and fruit flies looming
above kitchen sink drains.
I had a sneaky suspicion the ranking
would be due to the University's not com-
pletely warranted liberal reputation. After
all, everyone knows: liberal = must cut off
penises.
Lumped with the uber-P.C. Oberlin Col-
lege, Brown University and Antioch Col-
lege, the University's "vibe" was described
as "distraught, worried, academically loopy"
- harsh, but accurate. Our problem here is
"an especially aggressive and overwrought
cadre of feminist activists."
Huh?
On the contrary, there is a lack of feminist
voice on campus. Come on ladies, don't you
know taking over private offices is the way
to get things done around here? People
might start calling feminists rational and
respectful or something.
Perhaps the feminist voice - or for that
matter, any voice - was drowned out by
the incessant drum beating permeating
from the tower last winter. With the "wig-
wam" abandoned but affirmative action
lawsuits still pending, it looks like race is
going to be the hottest issue around here
for awhile.
?ed a tissue?
I would like to see a stronger feminist
voice on campus. Or any unified feminist
voice. Why shouldn't there be? A dispropor-
tionate percent of University professors are
male, it is socially acceptable for an alarm-
ing anount of us to starve ourselves, we,
don't enjoy the freedom of being able to
walk home safely from the Ugh at 2 a.m,
we're about to enter a work force where our
earnings will not match the man's dollar.
Just peachy.
But this is not to say that the Men's Health
critique of campus is completely out of left
field. After all, we have a Women's Studies,
department, not a Gender Studies depart-r
ment. To say every department is already a:
men's studies department is unfair. That
allegation is parallel to saying every day is
white history day, thus the inception of
Black History Month. Minorities' and
women's accomplishments are under-repre-
sented, but it is harmful to assume that,
because you are deemed dominant or more
prominent that you are also identity or issue-
less. Festifall would have been a lot more
fun my first year at the University if I was,
Latina, lesbian or Jewish. White, I am with-
out race and my cultural background '
well, to even say I have a cultural back-
ground is seen as a joke. It's the same thing-
with men. To say they have negative conse-,
quences related to their gender or that their#
gender raises interesting social issues is;
laughable.
I think feminism is good for men and
women. The egotistical guys at Men's
Health might even agree: They should be
pleased at the thought of never feeling oblig-
ated to walk a woman home again, or won-
dering - did she just go puke up that $60
meal?
- Emily Achenbaum can be reached via
e-mail at emilvlsaaumich:edu.
S tudents and Michiganders alike
are all too familiar with the fol-
lowing scenario: You lease an apart-
ment and arrange to have phone
service installed only to find out
Ameritech won't be out to the house
for another three weeks. You're angry
and feeling panicky and out of touch
because your connection to the Inter-
net is nonexistent.
Instead of calling Amrtch A HI
people from your
home, you're leech- Number om plrai
ing of a friend for Surers aboutAt
those important totheMichigan1
calls. commis ion in rt
But don't think
you're a special .997: 1,059
case: More than .1998: 3,748
1,900 people in the 1999: 4,913
last two months 2000: 6,929
have complained
about Ameritech's U Increase ivAr
decidedly obvious customers dur
lack of service in decade: '2 n
Ann Arbor, south-
east Michigan and U Percentage of
much of the Mid- Ameritech ovei
west. period: 33 pert
And there is
hope. The state of Michigan is listen-
ing to your complaints and feels your
pain.
Today, the Michigan Public Ser-
vice Commission is holding a hearing
in Lansing in an attempt to sort out
the string of problems leading to
Ameritech's unusually high rate of
customer complaints. This is a long
overdue attempt to explain why
Ameritech's service has become s yn-
onymous with ineptitudeand dead or
nonexistent phone lines dial tones.
Exactly why these problems have
suddenly multiplied during the past
year is still unexplained. Some of the
-ni
N
complaints can be traced to a lack of
repairmen, storms and perhaps just
coincidence, but even these excuses
cannot fully explain why people who
move one house down are not allowed
to retrieve their old phone number. It
does not explain why it may take
months - if at all - for a service-
man to check on an inefficient
modem line or
other problem.
This lack of ser-
ts frQm con vice is intolerable.
eritech service Even worse than the
ublic Service 'inconvenience of
O: t years: not being able to
phone a friend or
go online is the
very real danger of
not being able to
reach 911 in an
emergency. Basic
Fer tech emergency service
ig last is not a conve-
ihon nience, but a neces-
sity.
fobs cut by Ameritech has
the samne delayed setting up
service for people it
has listed as exist-
ing customers while its new cus-
tomers have been getting their service
set up slightly faster.
Before Ameritech takes in new
clients, it should ensure its current
customers that they can reach the
police or fire department when it is
most needed.
The many University students and
faculty who depend on Ameritech's
jhone service would be wise to fol-
ow the hearing in Lansing,
Ameritech must present a plan of
action and just might provide a few
answers to the puzzled questions of
subscribers.
1
1
Frustrated high-school jock syndrome. The
pressure not only to get a job, but the
assumption it will one capable of supporting
yourself-- and someone else. I roll my eyes
at women that are here shopping for a man
who will provide for them, but in all fair-
ness, men don't have the non-working-tro-
phy-spouse cop-out. But that sucks for men
everywhere. What's so specifically upsetting
about the climate at our University?
When I heard the University made the list,
I was surprised. Go along with that pesky
stereotype that men like sex and sports -
gee, who came up with that anyway? - this
seems like a great place to be.
The student body is about 52 percent
female, and I don't feel I am threatening my
heterosexual identity by saying hundreds of
them are gorgeous.
'We flushed them because it was raining and
we couldn't have a funeral outside.'
- L SA first-year student Lesley Littman describing the post-mortem proceedings for
Petunia, Scrappy and Charlie, her beloved fish.
H19 lve bigotry?
Racial profiling is not just a local problem
jf there is anyone out there who still Furthermore, it should be noted
thinks racial profiling does not hap- that most of the alleged "stolen infor-
pen, sit up and pay attention to this: mation" is still missing. It is not as if
Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-born, the FBI burst in Lee's door one day
naturalized American citizen, spent and found it sitting on his desk.
more than 20 years working as a Perhaps this glaring lack of evi-
nuclear physicist at Los Al amos dence is what prompted the govern-
Nuclear Laboratories in New Mexico. ment, finally, to release Lee from
He specialized in applied mathemat- solitary confinement Wednesday.
ics and fluid dynamics. In short, Mr. After nine months, Lee is a free man
Lee was one heck of a smart guy and again. Judge James Parker, who
an extremely valuable employee. presided over the Lee case, actually
He was fired from his job in March apologized for the government's con-
1999 under suspicion of espionage. In duct, saying that it "embarrassed this
December, he was arrested and entire nation and everyone who is a
charged with 39 counts of mishan- citizen of it."
dling sensitive informa- Indeed, we should
tion, ten counts of ...we should all be all be embarrassed
unlawfully obtaining and ashamed to live
information and ten ashamed,., in nation that can
counts of willfull , throw an upstanding
retaining evidence, all ethnicity is not citizen into prison
of which allegedly without probable
occurred during a three- probable cause, cause - and ethnci-
year investigation. ty is not probable
Was Lee a dangerously clever Chi- cause.
nese spy or just another victim of Racial profiling has been a hot-
American xenophobia? That depends button political issue in recent
on whom you ask. Energy Secretary months, but attention has been
Bill Richardson has repeatedly denied focused almost entirely on police
that Lee's race had anything to do operations at the state and local level.
with his indictment. Notra Trulock, The blatant injustices imposed on Lee
the Energy Department's Chief Intel- suggest that racial profiling could be
ligence Officer, allowed Lee to con- a national problem that pervades
tinue his work at Los Alamos even through law enforcement up to the
after the investigation began in 1997, highest level. Unless concrete, satis-
but later identified him as the prime factory answers are supplied as to why
suspect. This raises an interesting Lee was suspected over his col-
question: If, in fact, Trulock felt Lee leagues, the government should con-
was a threat, why was he not fired duct a thorough and comprehensive
immediately? investigation of its law enforcement
On the contrary, former Central agencies practices.
Intelligence Agency operations offi- While there is no concrete evi-
cer Robert Vrooman told The Wash- dence that Lee was a victim of racial
ington Post that "Mr. Lee's ethnicity profiling (i.e. no written order from
was a major factor." None of the many any government official saying, "Get
Caucasian people who had access to the Taiwanese guy"), the govern-
the same information were placed ment's actions seem suspicious. Fifty-
under investigation. He also said that nine counts of criminal behavior were
the case "was built on thin air" and brought against a man, then dropped
the government did not have "a shred nine months later without so much as
of evidence" to support their claims. an "oops."
Editorial displayed
anti-Catholic bias
TO THE DAILY:
As a colleague of Dean Bernie Dobranski
of Ave Maria School of Law, I appreciate your
efforts to be fair-minded ("Liberal intolerance,"
9/8/00). Nevertheless, there are troubling
aspects of the Daily's comments, both in the
reasons cited for tolerating this new academic
venture and the unwritten (perhaps uncon-
scious) presuppositions which inform the
writer of the editorial.
Thus, the editorial suggests that AMSL stu-
dents should be tolerated because they may not
be Catholic, or at least not devoutly Catholic.
Even if they're Catholic, they may not be "fun-
damentalist," because the Catholic Church is
"changing" and "modernizing." Thus, AMSL
should be welcomed insofar as it is not
Catholic, or if Catholic, then only in an attenu-
ated modernized sense.
Is the new Liberal orthodoxy so entrenched
at the University of Michigan that the academ-
ic community cannot tolerate as neighbors
those who hold to a tradition that stretches
back through Shakespeare, Dante and Augus-
tine to Aristotle and Plato? Where is "diversi-
ty" when we need it'?
Is there no memory amongst the University
community that prior examples of academic
censorship include the burning of books by the
Nazis; no sense that by excluding traditional
Christianity and the Western Canon even from
a hearing, the community is left with a
homogenous mind-set responsive to slogans
and political rallies, but not the life of the mind
that ought to be the hallmark of serious and
responsible higher education '
NICHOLAS HEALY, JR.
AVE MARIA COLLEGE PRESIDENT
Bush comment was
inappropriate
TO THE DAILY:
It seems to me that if Gov. Bush wants to
bring civility back into politics, as he con-
tends, he should refrain from referring to a
member of the media as a "major league ass-
hole." The civil thing to do, I believe, would
be to say "so and so is incorrect in his analy-
sis of my proposed policies"~ or "so and so
can be unfair in his stories." But it is wrong
to insult a member of the media (whose job,
need we remind the Governor, is to inform
the public about the candidates), even pri-
vately, for the mere reason of a disagreement
over one's job performance or one's potential
job performance.
LOUIE MEIZLISH
LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT
Site of pedestrian's
death is unsafe
vehicles must yield to pedestrians are ineffec-
tive - a fact obvious to people trying to cross.
Any other hazard on this campus compara-
ble to that posed by these two intersections
would be surrounded by a 10 ft. high chain link
fence. Two years ago I contacted the City of
Ann Arbor traffic engineering department
about problems at the Ann/Zina Pitcher inter-
section, but my letter to them was not acknowl-
edged. I believe that the City of Ann Arbor has
a shown significant negligence in allowing a
very dangerous situation to persist.
DOUGLAS JEWETT
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH SCIENTIST
A vote for Nader is
not pragmatic
TO THE DAILY:
Cynical as it may sound, this election year.
gives us two ways to vote for George W Bush
- W himself and Ralph Nader. Now, this isn't
a statement ridiculing third parties, but instead
one of raw pragmatism. The presidential race
this year will go down to the wire; some pun-
dits already compare it to the 1960 race
between Kennedy and Nixon. Every vote will
count this year, especially in a swing state such
as Michigan. Given these dimensions, a vote
for Ralph Nader is one less vote for Al Gore
and moves us one vote closer to both Bush's
questionable proposals and White House office
space for the National Rifle Association and
the religious right. Many Nader supporters
would probably find themselves quite surprised
if they researched Nader's views. While he
merits lots of praise for his role of consumer
advocate, in recent years Nader has said more
than a few disturbing things. Among them
include comments that corporations are the
culprits behind the Columbine shootings and
that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan, the engineer of our record econom-
ic prosperity, needs to be "re-educated".
However, whatever your political affiliation
- Democrat, Green, or just plain independent
- you actually have quite an easy choice if
you don't want George W Bush and his archa-
ic clan of past Reagan-Bush-advisors taking
over the reins of our nation from Bill Clinton.
And that's to cast a vote for Al Gore and Joe
Lieberman.
U should consider
students' AP credits
TO THE DAILY:
I find your editorial "Wasting Time"
(9/15/00) quite disturbing. It seems shocking
that the University no longer provides a way
for students with exceptional writing skills to
be exempted from the beginning writing cours-
es. When I entered the University in 1955, all
first-year students were required to take a writ-
ing placement examination. I never knew how
I did and took the first semester writing course,
at the end of which I was shocked to find that I
was being exempted from the second semester
course required then of all first-year students
(though I received only a grade of B+). I was
told that because of my placement test, I had
been placed in a special section of composi-
tion. Because of this exemption, I was able to
take my first English course, a far more stimu-
lating experience than the second semester of
composition would have been.
In the years since then, I spent my profes-
sional career teaching high school students to
write effectively. Most universities offer
options for exceptional student writers, the
most common being exemption from the first
semester or year of composition courses for
students with passing grades on Advanced
Placement English examinations. At a school
with the entrance requirements of the Universi-
ty requiring a score of 4 or 5 for exemption is
common. If the University's English Depart-
ment believes that isn't sufficient to ensure that
students have the necessary skills for success
in Michigan's academic environment, then spe-
cial seminars for students with these scores
could be offered. That seems to satisfy Stan-
ford and Harvard, among others.
It's true that a single writing sample may not :s r c uaey astd n' rtn blt
measure accurately a student's writing ability'
and that portfolio assessment is more accurate,
a properly designed writing test can be an accu-
rate predictor of writing ability. Although not 0
all my students who scored 4's or 5's on the
Advanced Placement English Literature test
may have been as good writers as the Universi-
ty's admissions officers would desire, I'm posi-
tive that they were better writers than 95 percent
of the students who did not take the test.
It seems clear that the University could and
should accommodate the 500 to 600 students
that need not be subjected to the boredom of an
unnecessary composition course.
DANIEL WOLTER, PH.D. *
ALUMNUS
CHRIS MILLER
LSA SOPHOMORE
DANE BARNES j..TU" RBED ILEEP
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